Roadrunner
by TheSocialBookWorm
Summary: Xanxus was feeling...off. When he gets a call from baby boss he realizes what's wrong very quickly. "Xanxus. We're going Roadrunner. Catch up quick." And that was how he knew everything was going to hell. ADOPTED from wolfsrainrules
1. Chapter 1

AN- Me: Muse Kitty...

Muse Kitty: Meow?

Me: What did you do?! You kidnapped wolfsrainrules's muse again!

Muse Kitty: Meow

Me: Well- yes I had fun with it.

Muse Kitty: Smug Meow

Me: I hate you

Disclaimer- I don't own Reborn

Prologue

"Enemies will attack you along the road and when you're traveling by car," Reborn lectured, and Tsuna shivered at the idea. The two of them were sitting in his room, the rest of the house empty for the day. Nana had taken the kids shopping and Banchi had disappeared to Reborn knows where. His guardians had learned the hard way not to interrupt one if Reborn's lessons unless it was an emergency.

"When that time comes, you have to have a plan with how to deal with it," the sun user continued. His black eyes were immensely focused on Tsuna, making him feel like the bug he was currently to the Arcobaleno. "A boss must be prepared for every eventuality. Multiple plans are ideal, ordered down in terms of safest to the most dangerous."

"Vongola cars are enforced," Reborn said, "But there are times enemies can get through them. Nothing is certain, technology is always advancing, cockiness will get you killed."

"B-But I thought you said that Vongola had the best scientist?" Tsuna asked.

"Dame-Tsuna," Reborn scolded, and grinned pulling out his Leon-mallett. Tsuna shrieked, trying to dodge.

Reborn continued talking as if his student wasn't nursing a new bump on his head. It wasn't like he was hitting the middle schooler as hard as he used to anyways. The brat had grown on him.

"What did I just say?" Reborn asked, then continued on ruthlessly before Tsuna could answer, "Technology is always advancing, The people making the technology are always changing. Vongola may have the best scientists now, but no one knows about that in even five years. By the time you become boss, Vongola may be the strongest in power, but the weakest in terms of technology, struggling just to keep up."

Tsuna furrowed his brow as he tried to work through the statement in his head. Reborn whipped out a book from wherever he kept it, and placed it down in front of the future Decimo. It landed with a heavy thump, and Tsuna jumped, working not to shriek again.

"I want you to read through this in the next week," Reborn told him, relishing in the horrified look his student gave the heavy book. "It outlines all of the basic plans that have already been made for situations regarding the road and cars. Once you have a general idea of what works and what doesn't, we can move onto how to create your own plans."

He smirked. "Of course, you'll have to keep up with your normal school work on top of that."  
Tsuna whimpered, and quickly pulled the book closer to him so he could get started. If he got a decent amount done today before school tomorrow, he might not have such a large workload for the next week. The glint in Reborn's eyes told him that it was a futile hope though. (And a small part of him crowed at the fact that he could finally start truly reading the hitman.) He wasn't looking forward to it, but he knew that Reborn would push him to his limits, and past them, but never more than Tsuna could truly handle.

He ducked at the gunshot, and Reborn's smirk grew.

"Less thinking and more reading Dame-Tsuna."

* * *

"Reborn?" Tsuna asked quietly a couple of days later. The hitman glanced at his student and then the book in his hands. He took note of where the bookmark was, and his face hardened. Ah. That one. "W-why is the Roadrunner page blank?"

Reborn gestured for him to sit down, and he noted that his student's frame relaxed slightly. The brat still hadn't seemed to learn what Reborn considered stupid questions, which were questions he had already answered and knew Tsuna could understand if he actually put some effort into it. Everything else was considered valid questions. After all, a good boss had to know how to admit to the people he trusted that he didn't know something.

"Because if you find yourself in a true Roadrunner situation, then you're most likely going to end up dead, and the author thought his readers should except that now."

Tsuna's face turned dead white, and he looked down at the book as if it were the one about to kill him. Normally, Reborn would have scolded him about it, but this one a moment that he needed Tsuna to understand just how serious he was being.

"Look at me, Tsuna," he commanded, and the don to be glanced up, whether from surprise at the use of his actual name, or because of his tutor's tone of voice Reborn wasn't sure, but it didn't matter as long as the boy paid attention to him. No student of his was going to get killed by a rookie mistake like thinking going Roadrunner was ever a good idea except in the most dire situations.

"The Roadrunner page is in there because a few people have managed to pull it off in the last half century," Reborn said, and Tsuna opened his mouth to ask a question but Reborn cut him off. "By a few I mean three." Tsuna's mouth snapped shut, his eyes widening.

"One was a group of two," Reborn continued, "A sun user and a mist user. And even then, they only managed it because of sudden bad weather, a sloppy mistake on their enemies part, and a hell ton of luck." The hitman could still remember that fog and rain filled night, flame depleted with a panting Mammon next to him, and the ever enclosing footsteps of the people after them.

"The other one," Reborn shook the memories off smoothly, not a hitch in his speech, "was a lone mist user. She only survived because she didn't have to use her flames for anything except throwing her pursuers off."

He tilted his head, studying Tsuna's dumbstruck expression. "But those were true Roadrunner situations. There are several conditions that must be meet for it to be a true Roadrunner. Other families argued that any situation on foot along a road is a Roadrunner, but they're all idiots.

"The situations they're talking about are simply pulling a runner. Anyone can do that correctly and get out alive if they're skilled enough. Roadrunners are entirely different.

"First, they have to be a complete surprise. You can't have known the attack was coming, which already leaves you at a disadvantage, and usually with an injury that will slow you down in a situation that you already can't afford to lose speed in"

 _Ducking and rolling out of the way from the shot that even he hadn't noticed, cursing as it clipped him in his shoulder, and whatever was on it started to drain his flames-_

"Second, you can't know who or how many people are after you. It becomes a situation that you can't trust anyone outside of your own people, and sometimes not even then. The danger increases exponentially as you lose the ability to ask for outside help."  
 _Mammon bursting in with a their lips in a grim line as they hauled him to his feet. "We've been sold out. We need to leave. Now or-_

"Third, you have to be on foot. Alone, against an unknown enemy with no quick way out of the situation, and no guarantee that the person walking down the street isn't helping whoever attacked you. That is what pulling a Roadrunner means."

 _The two of them ran hard, their feet pounding against the concrete of the twisting maze of alleys with Mammon leading the way, doubling back when the heard footsteps, but the feeling of encroaching inevitability wouldn't go away-_

Tsuna looked vaguely sick, and Reborn let the grim silence fall, his small legs crossed in front of him. He sat there staring at Tsuna to let the idea of that situation sink in, for him to realize just why no one did it except as a last resort.

"Hopefully," Reborn said softly, "You will never end up in such a situation. However," his black eyes bore into his students. "I want you to promise me that you will leave it as a last resort."

Tsuna nodded frantically, and Reborn let himself relax, smirking at his student. "Your spar with Hibari is supposed to start in five minutes."

Tsuna shrieked. "I'll never make it in time! Reborn! Why didn't you warn me earlier?!"

As Tsuna sprinted out the door, Reborn gave a soft smile that he was sure no one else would see.

* * *

Years later when in the middle of a mission Reborn got a call from the Varia, telling him his student, his boss, the one person who he tied himself to, his Sky, Tsuna and his driver were pulling a Roadrunner, he bent his head so his fedors shaded his face and hung up.

"Dammit Tsuna," he grit out through his clenched jaw. "You promised."

And he stalked off to catch the soonest flight to Italy.


	2. Chapter 2

AN- Me: And everything starts here. I'm looking forward to this story actually. I have all the things planned *Cackles*

Muse Kitty: Purr

Disclaimer- I don't own Reborn

Chapter 1

Tsuna found it a little ironic that despite the situation he was in, all he could think about was how after Reborn was going to kill him for letting this happen, then Xanxus would. Or his Guardians, whoever caught up first. Though in his defence, the anger of the world's greatest hitman was generally more intimidating than another assassination attempt. At least, he hoped it was just another assassination attempt.

His day had started out normally enough, even if the mansion had been achingly empty. He knew that several of his Guardians were out on missions, and the others were visiting family in Namimori with the exception of Takeshi, who was at a Baseball game. Reborn was also on a mission, Bianchi was with the kids in Namimori, and the rest of his inner circle didn't live at the Vongola mansion. There was the staff for sure, but the entire place was quiet and despite his best efforts most of them went out of their way to avoid him.

He suspected that his Guardians were doing something to run them off. Attention hogs that they were.

Tsuna sighed, pushing away from his paperwork, and ruffling his hair as he stretched. He glanced out the window and made a snap decision. He ran through the list of Approved staff that he could take with him as back up whenever he left the mansion, and picked one at random, heading out to find her.

Valkyrie would most likely be in the gardens, though he wasn't sure what section. He walked casually out of the mansion, nodding at the staff that he saw, though none of them were Approved, and scanned his eyes over the first section of the gardens. The flowers were in full bloom, and his lips twitched into a smile at an angry sounding sign one of the gardeners had put into place after the last time his Guardians had destroyed a bed during one of their fights.

He strode past, not taking the time to truly admire all of the flora that was there and striding into the next section, closer to the back of the mansion. The smell of some of the medical herbs drifted to his nose, and he fought the urge to twitch. He had never been sure if he loved or hate the smell. It reminded him of too many close calls for his liking, but at the same time, it was these plants that had saved lives.

He was thankful that the woman he was looking for was carefully coaxing one of the wilting herbs back to life, her voice a soft murmur, and he could make out the multitude of scars along her hands even from the distance he was at as she cupped one of the leaves.

"Val," he greeted her and the Introverted Cloud, glanced up at him, and nodded. He stood a small distance away from her, knowing that she needed her space when she was working with her plants.

After several minutes, she rose gracefully from her crouch, the top of her head barely reaching Tsuna's chin. He had always been short, but Val was shorter.

"Decimo," she greeted with a tilt of her head, brushing the dirt off of her hands and striding closer to him. "I assume that you wish to go out for the day?"

Tsuna nodded, knowing that she prefered not to talk for all that she was willing to listen to someone else. She smirked at him, the expression one of casual arrogance, and Tsuna rolled his eyes. She spent a lot of time around the Varia mansion which was one of the reasons she was on the Approved list and so she saw Tsuna a lot more than some of the other staff. He could never decide if he liked the Cloud and her gentle way of caressing plants, or if he disliked her arrogance and ruthlessness. He would protect and care for her as he should as her Boss though, having never really spent time with the gardener.

She dogged his footsteps as they headed towards the garage to get a car, and soon the two of them were on the road. Tsuna leaned against the window, his chin in his hands as he watched Italy go by. Val pulled them to a stop at a near deserted park, and when Tsuna blinked at her, she shrugged.

They didn't do much there, though Tsuna did stretch out on the grass and watched the clouds go by, his eyes peeled for ones that he could tell Lambo about that would make his youngest Guardian smile. Or at least roll his eyes and insist that Tsuna-nii had to be making that up.

When Tsuna felt the tension in his shoulders unwind, he nodded at Val and the two of them stopped to grab lunch before climbing back into the car to head home. Tsuna leaned back into the seat that time, and glanced at Val again, even the Cloud seemed to be in a better mood after some time in the park, and while her expression hadn't changed from it's usual arrogance, her finger tapped at the wheel in an upbeat rhythm.

He was about to close his eyes and just enjoy the ride home when his Intuition prickled.

The young Don's eyes shoot open, and he straightened in his seat. It wasn't a huge warning, but it was something and that was enough to set the Sky on edge. Next to him, Valkyrie straightened as well, and while her eyes stayed in the road, it was obvious that she was looking for whatever that had set him off. Tsuna himself couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

That was when the car next to them jerked, heading straight towards them. Val jerked in response, pulling away, but the damage had been done. The car ran into slid past them into oncoming traffic, and chaos broke out.

Val handled the car beautifully, trying her best to weave around the drivers that were trying their best to avoid the pile up, though Tsuna gripped at his seat when there were a couple of shocks as she couldn't fully dodge everything. They had almost made it to the clear, when he heard the horrid crunch of another car hitting the one they were in.

It came from an angle just behind them, and the added momentum, sent them reeling into the intersection that would have originally been their escape. From there it was hard to keep track of, as they were hit again and again, his head colliding with the car at least once.

When he could finally breath again, albeit a little bit painfully from the seat belt digging into his chest, the first thing he registered was that he was upside down. Tsuna blinked, desperately scrambling to organize his thoughts as his head rung and the memory of Reborn's lessons screaming in his ears. He took a shuddering breath, trying not to think about what the civilian's cars would look like and how many people would be dead from this, and turned his head.

"Val?" he rasped, turning his head to check on the Cloud.

"Tsunayoshi," she huffed back, though he wasn't sure if it was because of pain, or because she thought he was ridiculous for checking up on her. Blood dripped down his face, from what he could feel, eerily mirrored by the blood dripping into Val's hair.

His Intuition kicked up a notch, and he fought the urge to groan. "It's not over," he warned her, and she tensed up. Not that knowing helped anything since they were both pinned. The car had crumpled badly, and Tsuna wasn't even sure if he could move his legs. He didn't know how bad Val had it, though he doubt she could move either. The door had pinned one of his arms as well, and the other ached in an injury that could only get worse the more he would have to use it.

Something about the situation rang familiar to him, like he had heard about it years ago, and he he struggle to remember where, when Val's voice cut through his sluggish thoughts.

"Tsunayoshi," she said, her voice was rough, and he thought he heard the edge of concern in her voice. "Call Xanxus."

Tsuna nodded, and fought to keep his lips from quirking up at the order. It was moments like these that he wondered why he was the boss for all that he loved his job. They all did just fine without him, especially the clouds.

He grit his teeth against the pain as he moved the arm that he could, and it was several minutes that they couldn't afford to lose before he manage to pull the thankfully unharmed phone from his pocket. He had no idea what the Geek Squad had done to it, but whatever they had done allowed it survive the crash unscathed.

He pressed the third speed dial, knowing that Xanxus would the closest and the most likely to help them in time. He took a shuddering breath as Xanxus answered before the first ring even finished.

The other Sky's voice was sharp and angry. "Xanxus."  
Tsuna fought down a cough, and breathed out, "...Xanxus."

"Tsunayoshi," the Varia boss growled, and Tsuna still couldn't help the surge of pride at reading the worry beneath it.

Something in Val's breathing changed, and he turned back to her sharply.

"Tsu-Tsuna," she said before coughing, and Tsuna grimaced in worry at the blood that trickled from her mouth.

"Shit," he breathed, his mind already running through the possibilities and plans that they could pull off right now. None of them made him feel better, and he tried his best not to let out a strangled laugh. "Shit," he repeated as he settled on one, and he realized that Reborn was going to be pissed at him for breaking his promise.

"Xanxus," Tsuna finally said, shoving those thoughts aside to focus on the present. "We're going Roadrunner. Catch up quick."

He hung up before the assassin could say anything else, and dropped his phone. Gritting his teeth against to prepare for the pain, he let his Flames loose and burned through the metal pinning him down. He dropped to the roof of the car, one arm in pain from dislocation and the other an angry burned red.

He murmured a quick apology to Val, and started to burn through the metal surrounding her, his Intuition growing louder the longer they stayed there. It took a certain purity and focus of Flames to burn through a Vongola car, but Tsuna was one of the few who could make quick work of it.

His inhale was sharp as he caught sight of the metal digging into Val's side and she gave him a bloody smile. "Just my luck isn't it? Go."

"No," he replied, "I'm not leaving you here when more people are coming."

It was her job to keep him safe, but it was his job as boss to look after his people. It was a matter of which of them was more resolved. He watched as something in Val loosened as she looked into his amber eyes.

"Besides," he said softly, "Xanxus would kill me. You're one of the few gardeners he can stand. He says that you're 'actually fucking good at your job,' and that 'her crossbreds are actually fucking useful.'"

She let out a snort at that as Tsuna frowned at the wound in her side. Leaving the metal in was out of the question since they would be running and fighting, but taking it out would cripple the amount of Flames she could use.

"This is going to hurt," he murmured at her, and she nodded sharply, her hand gripping part of the car that hadn't been melted.

With a swift move, Tsuna pulled the metal out of her, doing his best to ignore the clenched swallowed scream that Val tried to keep down. He focused and carefully sealed the wound with Zero Point Breakthrough, before offering her a shaking hand.

Leaning on each other, the two of them limped away from the car as Tsuna scooped up his phone and set the car to explode. Not only would that keep the technology from enemy hands, but it would give the Varia a place to start from. They barely made it the safety distance when the ground shook from the force of the explosion, almost knocking the two of them off of their feet.

Tsuna steadied himself and then Val, tugging her towards a street that look packed, hoping the the common mafia presence in the area would keep the civilians from out right screaming at the sight of them. Heading to the woods instead of back into the city would make them too easy to track and this way they could hopefully blend into the crowd somewhat. Every step was a pain, but Tsuna took them anyways.

They were going to survive this. He would make sure of that.


End file.
